May 16, 2002 - The Governor's May Revision addresses an enormous increase in the state's budget shortfall through a variety of spending reductions, tax increases, fund transfers, and additional borrowing. Overall, it is a credible plan. At the same time, the proposal contains some risks and even with its adoption, the state would face additional shortfalls in the future.

May 16, 2001 - The May Revision reports a $5.7 billion deterioration in the state's fiscal condition. This assumes that the General Fund will be reimbursed from revenue bonds for the $7 billion plus it has committed for purchasing electricity. While the Governor's plan would result in a balanced budget in 2001-02, we estimate that the state would likely face a further shortfall of roughly $4 billion in 2002-03.

May 17, 2000 - The May Revision has many positive elements, including significant new funds for infrastructure (primarily one-time) and education. It also preserves the state's future fiscal flexibility by avoiding excessive ongoing commitments. The revision, however, has many proposals which lack specificity and/or delegate too much authority to the administration. It also misses opportunities to provide ongoing funding for infrastructure and state-local finance reform.

May 17, 1999 - The May Revision has many positive features, including major funding for infrastructure, restoration of commitments made last year, and an increase in the state's budgetary reserve. In addressing K-12 education and local government proposals, however, the Legislature may wish to consider more decentralized approaches that recognize differing local needs. In addition, we recommend that the Legislature take the opportunity afforded by the current increase in revenues to begin an ongoing commitment to a pay-as-you-go infrastructure program.

May 19, 1997 - Sharply improving revenues, combined with large caseload-related budget savings, have enabled the administration to propose significant funding increases in the areas of K-12 education, welfare reform, and local government fiscal relief.

May 27, 1994 - This year’s May Revision essentially
represents a technical update to the
January budget. It does not include any
major new proposals. Furthermore, the
Administration’s estimates of caseloads
and its revenue outlook have changed
only slightly since January, so that the
May Revision changes are relatively small.

May 1, 1993 - On May 20th, the Administration issued the
May Revision of the 1993-94 Governor’s Budget.
As originally presented in January, the budget
proposal addressed a budget gap that we
estimated at $8.6 billion (please see The 1993-94
Budget: Perspectives and Issues, Part I ). Since
the introduction of the original budget proposal,
this gap has declined slightly. In contrast, the
amount of savings that could be achieved from
the original budget proposals has decreased by
a much larger amount. While the May Revision
does propose some additional spending
reductions to partially replace these lost savings,
the Administration proposes to roll over a deficit of
$667 million into 1994-95. A major solution component
continues to be a $2.6 billion local property
tax shift. We conclude that, as currently structured,
this property tax shift proposal is unworkable. It
significantly reduces local (especially county)
resources without a corresponding change in
local responsibilities or a practical way to find replacement revenue in 1993-94.